When making a TV show about Gianni Versace, it is rather important that Versace clothing actually be worn in the series.

But pulling that off was actually very tricky for the costume designers who worked on American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

The Versace family has been outspoken in its disapproval of the mini-series, noting that it was not 'authorized' and a 'work of fiction'. So when costume designers Lou Eyrich and Allison Leach needed to pull Versace-label clothes, they told People, they had to get creative.

Tonight! American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace debuts tonight at 10 p.m. on FX

Flashback: The series documents the murder of Gianni (left, with Elton John in 1992)

Hard time: The costume designers for the show had to jump through hoops to get Versace clothing from the '90s to use in the show

Not impressed: Gianni's family — including sister Donatella (left) — have set it is an unauthorized work of fiction

The series, which debuts tonight on FX, documents the 1997 murder of Gianni - without the support of his family.

In fact, Versace's family has publicly denounced the show, releasing a statement that said: 'The Versace family has neither authorized nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming TV series about the death of Mr. Gianni Versace.

'Since Versace did not authorize the book on which it is partly based nor has it taken part in the writing of the screenplay, this TV series should only be considered as a work of fiction.'

While the creators of the show certainly had to fill in details, there is at least one thing they took great pains to get right: the clothes. After all, Gianni and Donatella couldn't exactly be outfitted in Chanel or Dior.

But because the Versace family would not cooperate, Eyrich and Leach couldn't call in pieces from the brand's archives, either. Instead, they actually had to buy anything they could, resorting — they revealed — to online options like eBay in order to track down appropriate vintage pieces.

But while they were able to source several key pieces, the designers admitted that they weren't able to source everything they needed.

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Genuine: Costume designers Lou Eyrich and Allison Leach said half of Donatella's wardrobe is real Versace (left: a still from the TV series, right: Donatella at Gianni's funeral)

Price: They bought the pieces on eBay, but couldn't get everything that way because they cost thousands of dollars each (left: the TV series, right: Donatella in 2007)

Staying true: Many of the pieces, then, were created after doing extensive research

They perfectly recreated a look worn by Donatella at a at the New York Public Library event in 1993 (left)

As a result, only half of the wardrobe for Penélope Cruz — who plays Donatella — is authentic, because the deigns were so hard to come by it.

'The Versace collections are skyrocketing right now on eBay and 1stdibs,' said Leach.

'The prices are out of control — everything online is in the thousands. And when you have so many clothes to do, you can’t be spending $3,000 on one piece. We were able to use more Versace menswear, like the actual printed shirts and a lot of original jeans and shoes.'

They did manage to snag a black leather fringed shirt for Donatella, plucked right from the Fall 1992 collection — a feat that inspired tears of joy.

Otherwise, however, they had to recreate pieces themselves, enlisting an on-set tailor to sew up designs that were as close as possible to the originals.

'We knew we were going to be recreating actual Versace garments, so we did research at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising here in L.A.,' said Leach.

Inspiration: Naturally, they wanted the fashion in the series to be authentic (Gianni pictured in 1992)

Lots of clothes: They had enough pieces to fit in several warehouses, and some didn't even make it into the show

'They have one of the largest Versace collections in the country. In this case, it was researching not only photos and videos and magazines but actually looking at the real clothes and their construction and then recreating that.'

The most difficult, said Eyrich was the bondage-style dress Donatella wore for a red carpet appearance with her brother in 1993.

'It's such an intricate garment, and to get it to fit the way it does was probably the biggest construction challenge,' said Leach. 'We had to have three of them made, including one to cut [on-camera].'

There were so many garments, in fact, that they had to be stored in multiple warehouses in Miami.

The costume designers also revealed that there are plenty of pieces they made from scratch that ended up on the cutting room floor, including a pink safety pin dress and studded pants.